


let the light out (let it take your heart away)

by moonatoms



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Found Families, anyway, is this fluff she says, probably not but it's definitely not angst either
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:48:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27233746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonatoms/pseuds/moonatoms
Summary: Over the past few years he’s seen Lucifer and Chloe grow closer and he’s seen them fall apart. They’ve hurt each other and built each other up again and come out of it stronger, against all odds.Now he gets to see them be in love.-Lucifer and Chloe's relationship, through Dan's eyes.
Relationships: Chloe Decker & Dan Espinoza, Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Dan Espinoza & Lucifer Morningstar
Comments: 40
Kudos: 236





	let the light out (let it take your heart away)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
> 
> Look, I know the title doesn't really fit, but I've been listening to this song on repeat for the past few days so shhhh.

Dan has always had a complicated relationship with Lucifer. 

He’s gone from hating the man’s, _devil’s_ guts to reluctantly accepting him to seeking out his friendship. That was before he found out that it wasn’t all just an act. That Hell is real and Lucifer was, _is_ its Lord. 

Dan’s family is really religious. He grew up going to church every Sunday, hearing in great detail about just how evil the devil really is. How to resist his temptation. How he’s the source of everything that’s bad in the world. He knows he himself would not be considered a particularly good person. His list of sins is _not short_ but Lucifer, Lucifer is the _actual_ devil. The way he saw it when he first found out, there is nothing, _nobody_ more evil than Satan.

Or so he thought at least. 

_Deep down you know he’s a good person_ , Chloe said to him after he tried to shoot - _kill_ \- Lucifer. But Dan couldn’t see it then. He’d read the bible, he’d heard the stories. And in his head, it fit. It _did_ . Lucifer is selfish. He takes what he wants. He is temptation personified. He can be brash and ruthless. Dan’s seen him hurt people he cares about, through indifference and cruel actions both, like when he ran off to Las Vegas and came back married to a stripper. Yet Chloe forgave him, time and again. It wasn’t until Chloe was kidnapped by Michael - who was supposed to be the good guy, angel of the Lord that he is - and he saw the frantic look on Lucifer’s face as they searched for her, the way he held her close when they found her and refused to let go, his eyes full of warmth and relief and _so much more_ that Dan started to think about all the ways in which Lucifer is actually _not_ evil.

_Freaking soulmates_ , Maze had said. He doesn’t know if soulmates are actually a thing (though at this point he would not be surprised if vampires were a thing, or werewolves, or, _well_ , soulmates) but he knows Lucifer loves Chloe. And he does know, is starting to see, that Lucifer is not evil like the bible makes him out to be. That he’s just as complicated as everyone else, a tapestry of rights and wrongs and all that’s in between. 

It must be so difficult, so painful to always be made out as the bad guy and blamed for everything, Dan thinks to himself. And it must be such a novel feeling, such a _good_ feeling to find someone who sees you for who you are, below all the walls and fake smiles and charms you’ve built up over millenia to protect yourself. 

Over the past few years he’s seen Lucifer and Chloe grow closer and he’s seen them fall apart. They’ve hurt each other and built each other up again and come out of it stronger, against all odds.

Now he gets to see them be in love.

* * *

Nothing much changes at work. 

They already bickered a lot before and it’s only in retrospect that Dan realizes just how tactile they’ve always been with each other. It’s more now, but it’s, well, _almost_ subtle.

Lucifer brings Chloe her coffee every morning and their fingertips touch and linger. They go over case files sitting impossibly close, knees touching, bodies aligned, heads resting together as they talk and every once in a while Lucifer’s hand will fall to her knee or Chloe will giggle at something ridiculous he’s said. When Chloe leans forward and a loose lock of hair slips from her ponytail and into her face, Lucifer will gently tuck it back behind her ear and the smile she gives him is wide and open and radiant. They don’t hold hands at work, but when they walk their fingers brush softly, curling slightly around each other at the fingertips. Or - as is often the case - Lucifer’s hand will find the small of her back and rest there, only moving away to pull out her chair when they reach her desk in an almost subconscious gesture. 

Yet they aren’t _overtly_ physical at work, don’t kiss or hug and he doesn’t catch them coming out of the evidence room or any of the hallway closets (though he certainly wouldn’t rule out the possibility that they do make out - _or more_ \- in there, they both have a bit of a history when it comes to these things after all). But one time when they are on a stake-out together, watching different exits of the warehouse their suspect is supposedly hiding in from their respective cars and he calls Chloe to ask her something related to the case she sounds breathless in a way that makes Dan think she maybe wasn’t _just_ watching the door.

There is a sense of comfort between Lucifer and Chloe now that runs deeper than the ocean and the way they look at each other is heavy and it’s light and full of _so much_. And even if he is absolutely over her, even if he wants nothing more than her friendship, is so grateful for that, it stings sometimes knowing that Chloe never looked at him like that, that her eyes never lit up like bright stars in the night sky when he entered the room. Sometimes he has to look away, sometimes he has to make an excuse and leave and try not to think of Charlotte, her golden hair, the curve of her smile, the weight of her gaze in the early morning light.

* * *

Dan talks to Amenadiel and Linda. He talks to Chloe and Maze and in the end he talks to Lucifer. It’s still not the same between them as it was before - Dan’s world has tilted on his axis and Lucifer has been hurt too much to forgive easily - but they are slowly getting back on track. 

He’s always had a key to Chloe’s house. It’s easier when he can just swing by to pick up a forgotten book report or lunch bag and they don’t always have to coordinate and Trixie is getting old enough now to be left alone for a few minutes when Dan has to leave and Chloe is running late. 

Still, he usually knocks, but this evening there is no answer which is strange because Chloe texted him an hour ago saying that she just got home. So he uses his key, tries to suppress the small sense of dread that’s fighting its way up his chest.

It’s been a long few days - cases involving murdered children are always the hardest and he’s seen the lines on Chloe’s face deepen and her posture growing more rigid with each passing day. He knows it’s affected Lucifer, too. The man might say he despises children but while not a lie it’s not the truth either and Lucifer does not like to see the innocent hurt, Dan knows that now. Really, he has always known this.

He finds them on the couch. Chloe is lying on her back, her face slack, hands fisted in Lucifer’s shirt which looks rumpled. Lucifer’s head is pillowed on her stomach, his arms curled protectively around her sides and their legs are tangled. They look tired, even in their sleep, but Dan knows now that they will be okay because they have _this_ , these moments. Because they have each other.

He can’t help but sneak a picture that will make _excellent_ blackmail for Lucifer in the future and he also can’t help the soft smile that fights its way onto his face.

He thinks of all the things they’ve been through in the past years, all the hurt and pain and fear they have been caused and caused each other and looks at them now, curled up together, drawing comfort and love from the other in those difficult moments and finds that he is really, _honestly_ happy for them.

So he sends Chloe a text, telling her they’ll be a bit late and takes Trixie out for dinner at their favorite restaurant, careful to close the door as silently as possible so as not to wake the sleeping pair.

* * *

It’s not all easy, of course. Chloe is a detective with a stubborn streak and too much bravery for her own good sometimes. 

They’ve been chasing a gang leader responsible for the death of several women to a warehouse down by the docks. Dan doesn’t know how Chloe and Lucifer got separated, he just knows that he’s been quietly walking down a hallway with his gun drawn when there is suddenly a scream - a _female_ scream - that sounds all too familiar. When he rounds the corner, it’s to a sight that makes his blood run cold. Chloe is lying on the floor, blonde hair splayed out like a halo around her. Her body is still and there is a knife sticking from her chest, held by the man they’ve been searching, an evil smile on his face. Dan barely has time to raise his gun before there is a blur of black and white and suddenly the man is lying in the corner, Lucifer towering over him, tall and dark with his wings out and his eyes blazing red. For a moment, time seems to slow down. Dan is sure - _he’s so sure_ \- Lucifer is about to rip the man apart with his bare hands, can feel the rage radiating off him in waves. He’s also pretty sure in that moment that he’d let him. But then there’s a whimper, a breathless “ _Lucifer_ ” and before Dan can blink, the man in question has turned around and is crouching by Chloe’s side, hands gently carressing her face as he bows down to her. 

Later, when he’s arrested the man and the paramedics have taken Chloe away, leaving only a dark patch of blood on the floor that makes his stomach turn, Dan finds them by the ambulance. Chloe is half sitting, half lying on a gurney, a bandage wrapped tightly around her shoulder where the knife penetrated her skin and thankfully did not hit anything vital. It’s covered by Lucifer’s hand. They’re sitting close, foreheads resting together and Dan has to strain his ears to hear what they’re saying. He knows he shouldn’t eavesdrop but the image of Chloe’s pale white skin against the dirty concrete floor, her face contorted in pain is burned into his mind and he needs to know she’s okay. 

“Just a few centimetres,” he hears Lucifer say. “Just a few centimetres and he would have killed you. Chloe…” 

He sounds breathless, frantic, his hand running up and down Chloe’s side and face until she grasps it tightly in hers and stills it. 

“I’m okay,” she replies quietly, trying to reassure him with her voice and her touch. “I’m okay, Lucifer.”

“He could have killed you,” Lucifer says and there is so much pain in his eyes that Dan has to look away for a second. “He could have killed you.”

Chloe nods, looks down for a second. “But he didn’t,” she answers slowly and raises her head again, her gaze meeting Lucifer’s. “He didn’t and I’m okay.”

They’re quiet for a beat, eyes locked, hands clasped tightly, simply breathing the other in.

“I know better than anyone that you can absolutely take care of yourself, Detective,” Lucifer says after a moment, looking strangely helpless. “But it was too close.”

Chloe nods again, an almost imperceptible motion and takes a deep breath. 

“Yes,” she replies, her voice barely above a whisper. “I know. But Lucifer…”

She lifts her right hand up to rest on the side of his face, drawing him closer still.

“This would not be the end. I’m not ready to go, not at all, but if I did, this would not be the end.”

Lucifer presses a kiss to her temple, her nose, and finally her lips, pulls back slightly to look at her, his gaze laden with so many different emotions.

“I know,” he breathes against the side of her face and he does know now. _They_ do know. 

Dan isn’t exactly sure what went down between Lucifer and his father - _God_ \- who apparently came down to earth, to _their_ precinct, and proceeded to sit them all down for a family dinner that he would have loved to be a fly on the wall for. They’ve both been rather tight-lipped about the entire affair but there was a lightness to their steps, their touches after and that coupled with a few off-handed comments by Lucifer, Amenadiel and Linda were enough for Dan to make an educated guess that Lucifer and God have truly forgiven each other. And this exchange is confirming what he already knew to be true in his heart: That the devil is no longer banned from Heaven, but it’s where he’ll go, with Chloe, once she dies. Many, many, _many_ years from now, hopefully.

It’s bittersweet, because Dan also knows that this is not where he’s headed. He’s caused too much pain, beyond Palmetto and the way he handled Trixie and Chloe and their failing relationship. He’s going to Hell, there is no doubt about it. And he’s been trying, trying to be better. Not because of it, but despite knowing where he’ll end up after his death. If all he gets are these few years on earth followed by an eternity in the pits of Hell, he wants to know he’s done something good with his life. That his legacy is not that of a dirty, selfish cop. It hurts though, knowing that when she dies, he’ll never see Chloe again, or Trixie. Or Charlotte. It’s a dark weight on his chest that never lightens and some days he feels like he can barely breathe through it. He doesn’t want to, _can’t_ imagine it.

All he has is this time, here, now. 

He pushes the thoughts down into a deep corner of his mind, swallows past the lump in his throat.

Before him, Chloe tugs Lucifer into her embrace, pulling him impossibly closer until, in the dim light of the street lanterns, Dan can’t tell where one ends and the other begins.

* * *

Dan isn’t one hundred percent sure how they ended up here.

There was a ball, some charity thing, that they were all forced to attend. Lucifer had been pestering Chloe about what she was going to wear all week and she’d been strangely secretive about it. This afternoon, Ella and her had left early to change and do their hair and make-up. It’s a tribe thing, apparently, though Dan still is not exactly sure what that means. 

The look on Lucifer’s face when Chloe entered the room, Ella and Linda in tow was priceless though. He’d never seen the man look so flustered. Hell, he hadn’t even known it was possible for Lucifer to look flustered. Still, it was kind of adorable, the way he walked over to them and stopped in front of Chloe, who was giving him a coy smile. Beside her, Ella and Linda were giggling. 

Dan has to admit that Chloe did look stunning in her long, dark red dress, hair falling over her shoulders, eyes just a bit darker than usual. Lucifer and her danced all evening, laughing and touching and looking free and every bit in love. There was too much champagne and when the event was over and Lucifer suggested they all go back to his penthouse, everyone agreed eagerly.

They’re sprawled on his couches now, drinking whiskey and wine that probably cost more than Dan’s car. There are pizza boxes spread out on the coffee table, an assortment of chocolate truffles and gourmet chips sitting in bowls between them. Ella has challenged them to a game of poker, which she is currently winning and Dan feels warmer and more content than he has in a long time. He glances over to where Lucifer and Chloe are curled up on the couch. She’s opted not to join their game, choosing to remain tucked into Lucifer’s side instead and he’s absentmindedly massaging her feet that are resting in his lap with one hand. They look so comfortable like this, open and happy and he has to smile at the sight. It turns into a grin when Chloe - tipsy from the champagne and tired from the dancing - falls asleep and starts snoring in that way that would be cute if it didn’t rival the sound of someone sawing wood. Lucifer looks up and Dan throws him a look of sympathy, can’t help but smile wider when Lucifer gives him a small nod as he wraps his arm tightly around Chloe and pulls her closer, lips finding her temple. There is a lightness in Dan’s chest because despite everything that has transpired between them in the past, he and Lucifer have slowly managed to repair their friendship and they’ve come so far. He remembers the earlier days, his own jealousy and Lucifer’s too, their quiet competition. But Chloe is not a prize and they are not rivals, they are friends who love Chloe, each in their own way, who have their own history with her and with each other, who can share sympathy over the fact that it can be impossible to get a good night’s sleep sometimes with this _small_ person who snores and hogs the covers and is one of the best, most caring people either of them have ever known.

The evening winds down soon after. While the others put away the dishes and wipe down the coffee table, Lucifer gently picks Chloe up as if she weighs nothing, tucking an errand strand of hair behind her ears. He carries her towards the bedroom and she curls further into him in her sleep, hands wrapping tightly around his arms. 

* * *

Her school held a science competition and Trixie has won a prize. Which is kind of funny, because neither him nor Chloe were ever particularly good at sciences, but Trixie excels at them and he couldn’t be any prouder. 

Maze has found them seats almost at the front of the auditorium, and they sit down there, Chloe wedged between Lucifer and him with Maze on his other side. When a beaming Trixie accepts her prize, eyes searching and finding theirs, he is surprised to find Chloe’s hand grasping his, gently squeezing it as he turns to meet her smile.

He looks down at their clasped hands, at Lucifer and Maze, who is whistling, and then Trixie on the stage who is grinning widely and realizes that he is actually, for the first time in his life, _really_ happy.

He thinks of himself at 20 years old, proud to become a police officer like his grandfather, the way he sketched out his future in his head. A wife, children, a house; a life the way his parents and grandparents had lived it before him. He’d been so set in his ways then, self-righteous and certain of his place in the world. Chloe had been a breath of fresh air. His parents had never liked her. They were conservative and had always envisioned him with someone quiet, someone who wasn’t headstrong and stubborn and opinionated, someone who wouldn’t question him, question them, who wouldn’t follow her own path even when it diverged from his. He hadn’t been able to see back then that this quiet, simple life wasn’t what he really wanted. That he needed someone to challenge him. And Chloe had her own demons to fight. They hadn’t been good at communication and in time they’d fallen apart, slowly at first and then all at once. 

He doesn’t regret it. Neither their time together - she’d given him Trixie and so much more - nor their divorce. They didn’t fit as lovers, he knows that now. He’d never been right for her just like she’d never been right for him. He loves her, but it isn’t a romantic love, which doesn’t lessen what he feels for her, but does make it different. And that’s okay. Because his parents, his grandparents weren’t right. 

There isn’t just one kind of family. There are so many different kinds of families and you just have to go out into the world and find the one that fits _you_. 

His family includes the devil and a demon and an angel, a forensic scientist and a psychiatrist, his ex-wife and his daughter. And it’s good like this, it’s right.

His life is full of laughter these days, it’s full of family dinners and hugs, it’s late night talks and improv evenings. It’s fighting sometimes and making up again. It’s his world turning on its axis and redefining, rebuilding itself. It’s realizing who he wants to be and knowing that if he falls, he will not be alone, will not be left to burn in the dark. And sometimes it’s sitting next to his ex-wife, holding her hand tightly as she leans her head on her lover’s shoulder and they both watch their daughter with pride. 

Dan’s eyes meet Lucifer’s over Chloe’s head and the other man gives him a small, almost imperceptible smile. He turns his head towards the stage, where Trixie is just bounding down the stairs and towards them. She throws herself into Dan’s arms when she reaches them and he pulls her into him, pressing his lips to the crown of her head, inhaling her familiar scent.

Let’s himself be filled with this, this lightness, this happiness and holds it close, holds it close to his heart.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Title is from SAILR's "Heart Away".
> 
> This is obviously Dan's view on things which I definitely think differs from the way we as viewers perceived some of the plot-lines but well, he's definitely biased and missing a lot of the information we have. Also I really do not think Dan will actually end up in Hell. Come on, this is a story about redemption! But he doesn't know that yet...
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading, have a lovely day. Also if you want to chat more about Lucifer (or anything else), I’m @moonatoms on tumblr, too.


End file.
